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The Best Perennial Flowers to Thrive in Northern Utah

Gardeners love perennial flowers, and for good reason. With basic care, these hardy plants come up year after. Their roots run deep, allowing them to survive the shock of winter temperatures. Northern Utah has a range of climate conditions and several types of perennials that do exceptionally well here, keeping your garden colorful for months.

Why Plant Perennials?

The joy of perennials is that once you get them safely planted, you just need to water and fertilize them periodically. They bloom reliably each year with minimal care. If you plan your garden carefully, it will always be full of color. Select your plants so that one type starts blooming just when another is finishing its blooming cycle. Perennials also save you time in the garden. They have a shorter blooming cycle than annuals do, so you don’t have to remove old blooms as often. With annuals, you need to remove old blooms frequently, otherwise they stop blooming. Perennials help to keep your whole garden healthier. Their deep roots mean the plants have access to nutrients that annuals can’t reach. They bring these nutrients closer to the surface, where other plants can use them. Their long roots make channels in the soil so water can percolate up and around, which also helps to aerate the soil.

Eight Hardy Perennials for Northern Utah Gardens

The diverse climate of northern Utah spans the U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4, 5, 6 and 7. Here is a look at eight of the best perennials that do well in these zones.

The friendly looking, yellow tickseed coreopsis flowers from June to September if you deadhead the plants regularly. They need full sun.

Munstead lavender brings a bluish-purple glow to your yard. It is in flower from July to October and needs full sun to do its best. Gardening experts say every garden should have at least one type of lavender, for its beauty and its fragrance.

Rose lovers are grateful for the John Cabot rose, which can flower from June to October, one of the few roses that can do so in northern Utah. It requires full sun and regular deadheading to do its best.

Hummingbirds love the delicate redbirds in a tree, which bloom from June to September. It is most robust at 6,000 feet or higher and does well in full sun.

The corkscrew ornamental onion adds an interesting range of purples to your yard. If you have clay soil, this is an excellent choice. It flowers from June to September.

If your soil is of poor quality, you can still get blooms with strawberry seduction yarrow, which has delicate red and yellow blooms with fern-like foliage. It blooms all through the summer and into early fall.

If you love the look of anemones, consider planting the September charm windflower. It brings a lovely pink color to your garden in the fall, just as other the flowers are dying.

The range of colors in the McKana giant mix columbine can bring variety to an odd corner of the garden. They come in several sizes and are among the first to bloom each spring.

Half the fun is selecting which colors you want to bring to each section of your garden. Visit Millcreek Gardens in Salt Lake City and let their experts help with all your gardening needs. They can answer all your questions and get you on the right track with your favorite perennial flowers.